IA Summit 2007 - update
I can't believe that it has been over a year since I last posted to this blog. It is one of those things that everyone keeps telling me to do.
So here's my update...
Moved on from the Head of User Experience in the London agency and am now working freelance; doing all the things I always wanted to do - train, write and hopefully mentor people. The last one I am still working on.
To be honest I can't remember the previous IA Summit very well - other than lots of facet talks. This one I did enjoy, maybe because I did so much.
And this is what I want to talk more about.
I presented on three themes at the conference
I did two things with structuring data; a workshop with Karen Loasby, John Allsopp and Thomas Vander Wal and a panel with Tom Coates, Matt Biddulph and Lisa Chan.
I enjoyed the workshop, though my data exercise was too long and complicated for the time allotted - it really needed 2 hours to do it in its current state. Next time it will be less complicated. It was so interesting to see the way people were problem solving, some mucking into the data to see the patterns and interactions and some focusing on the purpose of the interface and interaction. I sometimes forget (and am pleasantly surprised) when I see the different working styles of people. I also really enjoyed Karen's chicken exercise; John's really interesting presentation on microformats (read the book) and Thomas' round-up of the topic.
The panel was a scream; we learnt about my dating habits(!), Tom's take on the semantic web guys, Matt's screen shots of the life of Peterme, Lisa's efforts with children's writing and finding THAT editor; all in the guise of trying to pull data from all over the web together.
I also presented on Admin interfaces; the type of unloved interfaces that usually get created by chance or by developers. Tom created the first one I had a lot of exposure to at the BBC and had a lot of frustrations communicating the purpose to the end users. My case study also had the same frustrations; with both showing how the information would be used in the web site and the process of entering in the content. Dan Willis made an interesting comment and one that I will keep in mind for the next interface,
Creating and uploading may need a different interface to the management; using Excel vs. form based interfaces.
As usual I also had a fab time meeting people that I only see once a year at the Summit. Hopefully I'll see more of them before the next one in Miami 10-14 April 2008.
So here's my update...
Moved on from the Head of User Experience in the London agency and am now working freelance; doing all the things I always wanted to do - train, write and hopefully mentor people. The last one I am still working on.
To be honest I can't remember the previous IA Summit very well - other than lots of facet talks. This one I did enjoy, maybe because I did so much.
And this is what I want to talk more about.
I presented on three themes at the conference
- UX Management
- Structuring data
- Admin interfaces
I did two things with structuring data; a workshop with Karen Loasby, John Allsopp and Thomas Vander Wal and a panel with Tom Coates, Matt Biddulph and Lisa Chan.
I enjoyed the workshop, though my data exercise was too long and complicated for the time allotted - it really needed 2 hours to do it in its current state. Next time it will be less complicated. It was so interesting to see the way people were problem solving, some mucking into the data to see the patterns and interactions and some focusing on the purpose of the interface and interaction. I sometimes forget (and am pleasantly surprised) when I see the different working styles of people. I also really enjoyed Karen's chicken exercise; John's really interesting presentation on microformats (read the book) and Thomas' round-up of the topic.
The panel was a scream; we learnt about my dating habits(!), Tom's take on the semantic web guys, Matt's screen shots of the life of Peterme, Lisa's efforts with children's writing and finding THAT editor; all in the guise of trying to pull data from all over the web together.
I also presented on Admin interfaces; the type of unloved interfaces that usually get created by chance or by developers. Tom created the first one I had a lot of exposure to at the BBC and had a lot of frustrations communicating the purpose to the end users. My case study also had the same frustrations; with both showing how the information would be used in the web site and the process of entering in the content. Dan Willis made an interesting comment and one that I will keep in mind for the next interface,
it is about the difference between creating and managing the content
Creating and uploading may need a different interface to the management; using Excel vs. form based interfaces.
As usual I also had a fab time meeting people that I only see once a year at the Summit. Hopefully I'll see more of them before the next one in Miami 10-14 April 2008.
posted by Mags at 12:14 PM
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